Earnings Update: BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) Just Reported And Analysts Are Boosting Their Estimates

Shareholders will be ecstatic, with their stake up 21% over the past week following BioNTech SE's (NASDAQ:BNTX) latest quarterly results. Revenues of €67m crushed expectations, although expenses also blew out, with the company reporting a statutory loss per share of €0.88, 114% bigger than analysts expected. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

See our latest analysis for BioNTech

Following the latest results, BioNTech's eight analysts are now forecasting revenues of €5.89b in 2021. This would be a substantial 3,470% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Earnings are expected to improve, with BioNTech forecast to report a statutory profit of €10.66 per share. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of €3.92b and earnings per share (EPS) of €4.90 in 2021. There has definitely been an improvement in perception after these results, with the analysts noticeably increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 11% to €80.66per share. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on BioNTech, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at €123 and the most bearish at €56.76 per share. This is a fairly broad spread of estimates, suggesting that analysts are forecasting a wide range of possible outcomes for the business.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. It's clear from the latest estimates that BioNTech's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 30x revenue growth noticeably faster than its historical growth of 18%p.a. over the past three years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 20% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect BioNTech to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards BioNTech following these results. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for BioNTech going out to 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here..

Don't forget that there may still be risks. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for BioNTech (1 is significant) you should be aware of.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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